Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Influence of Quantum Interference on the Thermoelectric Properties of Molecular Junctions

Miao, Ruijiao ; Xu, Hailiang LU ; Skripnik, Maxim ; Cui, Longji ; Wang, Kun LU ; Pedersen, Kim G.L. ; Leijnse, Martin LU ; Pauly, Fabian ; Wärnmark, Kenneth LU and Meyhofer, Edgar , et al. (2018) In Nano Letters 18(9). p.5666-5672
Abstract

Molecular junctions offer unique opportunities for controlling charge transport on the atomic scale and for studying energy conversion. For example, quantum interference effects in molecular junctions have been proposed as an avenue for highly efficient thermoelectric power conversion at room temperature. Toward this goal, we investigated the effect of quantum interference on the thermoelectric properties of molecular junctions. Specifically, we employed oligo(phenylene ethynylene) (OPE) derivatives with a para-connected central phenyl ring (para-OPE3) and meta-connected central ring (meta-OPE3), which both covalently bind to gold via sulfur anchoring atoms located at their ends. In agreement with predictions from ab initio modeling,... (More)

Molecular junctions offer unique opportunities for controlling charge transport on the atomic scale and for studying energy conversion. For example, quantum interference effects in molecular junctions have been proposed as an avenue for highly efficient thermoelectric power conversion at room temperature. Toward this goal, we investigated the effect of quantum interference on the thermoelectric properties of molecular junctions. Specifically, we employed oligo(phenylene ethynylene) (OPE) derivatives with a para-connected central phenyl ring (para-OPE3) and meta-connected central ring (meta-OPE3), which both covalently bind to gold via sulfur anchoring atoms located at their ends. In agreement with predictions from ab initio modeling, our experiments on both single molecules and monolayers show that meta-OPE3 junctions, which are expected to exhibit destructive interference effects, yield a higher thermopower (with ∼20 μV/K) compared with para-OPE3 (with ∼10 μV/K). Our results show that quantum interference effects can indeed be employed to enhance the thermoelectric properties of molecular junctions.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and , et al. (More)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and (Less)
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
density functional theory, Molecular junctions, quantum interference, quantum transport, thermoelectricity, thermopower
in
Nano Letters
volume
18
issue
9
pages
7 pages
publisher
The American Chemical Society (ACS)
external identifiers
  • pmid:30084643
  • scopus:85052336534
ISSN
1530-6984
DOI
10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b02207
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
82417495-b72f-48d6-89e5-5d5ff4b3e3fb
date added to LUP
2019-02-10 16:45:17
date last changed
2024-04-16 00:07:53
@article{82417495-b72f-48d6-89e5-5d5ff4b3e3fb,
  abstract     = {{<p>Molecular junctions offer unique opportunities for controlling charge transport on the atomic scale and for studying energy conversion. For example, quantum interference effects in molecular junctions have been proposed as an avenue for highly efficient thermoelectric power conversion at room temperature. Toward this goal, we investigated the effect of quantum interference on the thermoelectric properties of molecular junctions. Specifically, we employed oligo(phenylene ethynylene) (OPE) derivatives with a para-connected central phenyl ring (para-OPE3) and meta-connected central ring (meta-OPE3), which both covalently bind to gold via sulfur anchoring atoms located at their ends. In agreement with predictions from ab initio modeling, our experiments on both single molecules and monolayers show that meta-OPE3 junctions, which are expected to exhibit destructive interference effects, yield a higher thermopower (with ∼20 μV/K) compared with para-OPE3 (with ∼10 μV/K). Our results show that quantum interference effects can indeed be employed to enhance the thermoelectric properties of molecular junctions.</p>}},
  author       = {{Miao, Ruijiao and Xu, Hailiang and Skripnik, Maxim and Cui, Longji and Wang, Kun and Pedersen, Kim G.L. and Leijnse, Martin and Pauly, Fabian and Wärnmark, Kenneth and Meyhofer, Edgar and Reddy, Pramod and Linke, Heiner}},
  issn         = {{1530-6984}},
  keywords     = {{density functional theory; Molecular junctions; quantum interference; quantum transport; thermoelectricity; thermopower}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  number       = {{9}},
  pages        = {{5666--5672}},
  publisher    = {{The American Chemical Society (ACS)}},
  series       = {{Nano Letters}},
  title        = {{Influence of Quantum Interference on the Thermoelectric Properties of Molecular Junctions}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b02207}},
  doi          = {{10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b02207}},
  volume       = {{18}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}